The Commonwealth Bank's market capitalisation has risen above $100 billion for the first time as investors continue their chase for higher-yielding stocks.

The bank’s shares rose to its highest-ever value - $63.24 - at the close of trading on Thursday, as the ASX200 reached a 19-month high and the market continued to rally following the US Congress' temporary aversion of the "fiscal cliff" crisis.

Shares were trading slightly lower at $63.15 at midday on Friday, with CBA’s market capitalisation - the total dollar value of a company’s shares - standing at $101 billion.

Analysts said the strength of Australian banks in a well-regulated environment, as well as the consistent positive earnings from CBA, were drawing investors towards the country’s biggest bank and the world’s 10th largest according to market capitalisation.

“People are comfortable with the fact that these are safe haven banks,” Bell Potter Securities banking analyst TS Lim said.

“You get consistent cash flows coming out and very good risk-adjusted returns. You’ve seen a lot of banks blow up overseas but over here, it’s been well run and well-regulated.”

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Mr Lim said Commonwealth Bank’s attractiveness was boosted by its retail focus, which meant that it was not heavily involved in the more volatile parts of the industry.

“CBA has always had a positive trajectory. If you look at CBA’s earnings in the last 10 years, it’s been going up, compared to the other local and international banks that have dips here and there,” he said.

Investors were also moving into firms with the most stable yields as interest rates declined, City Index chief market analyst Peter Esho said.

"The yield is franked, the income stream is quite resilient, and banks have managed to grow their earnings even in very challenging circumstances. Even at the current share prices, Commonwealth Bank is still yielding a franked dividend of around 5 to 5½ per cent."

Last month, Nobel laureate and leading US economist Robert Engle said Australian banks were well capitalised and could withstand another financial crisis.

Dr Engle, a professor of finance at New York University's Stern School of Business, said the world ''looks pretty rosy from Australia's point of view'' and that the liquidity measures used during the global financial crisis appeared to be effective.

Australia's big banks are still expected to face an extra level of monitoring. Rules are being drawn up that would force domestically important financial institutions to come under additional regulatory scrutiny by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.

Mr Esho said the big test for Australian companies would be during the corporate reporting season in late February and early March.

"It's going to be a very important season because the market has risen in anticipation of decent earnings numbers," he said.

Mr Esho said the biggest risk for Australian banks was an elevation in bad debt charges as the economy slows down, but added that he thought it would be an unlikely issue.